Medical swabs are commonly used to collect biological specimens from patients. Such medical swabs generally include a fibrous tip at one end of an elongated stick or stem. Once a sample is collected, it may be transferred from the tip to a testing medium for performance of an assay to determine the presence or absence of an analyte of interest. Some systems, known as “all-in-one” swab systems, have been developed that provide both the reagents for the immunoassay and the swab in a single, self-contained apparatus. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,248,294 to Nason describes a substantially self-contained diagnostic test unit for collecting and analyzing a biological specimen. The test unit has a tubular housing defining a specimen chamber for receiving a biological specimen collected from a swab. A reagent dispenser cap is removably mounted on the housing to permit placement of the specimen into the specimen chamber, at which time the dispenser cap may be manipulated to deliver one or more selected chemical reagents to the specimen chamber for contacting the collected specimen. A diagnostic strip assembly is also mounted on the housing and includes a diagnostic strip extending along the housing, substantially in parallel relative to the specimen chamber. Transfer means are provided for moving mixed specimen and reagent from the specimen chamber for contacting one end of the diagnostic strip and for wick flow therethrough into contact with one or more additional reagents selected to yield a visual test result.
However, one problem with conventional “all-in-one” systems, such as described above, is that the fluid contained within the apparatus often leaks out of the apparatus prior to use. In addition, the method for using such devices typically involves several complicated steps that may lower the real-time efficacy of the device in detecting the presence or absence of the analyte. As such a need currently exits for a self-contained, swab-based device that is effective in detecting the presence of an analyte in a simple manner.